Jude

Good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of scripture, you can find the book of Jude. Choose any chapter you want. [LAUGHTER] We’re in Jude, and we’re talking about fighting for the faith. And we just sang, “I will wait for you.” And we do wait for the Lord in many different ways. But while we wait, we also need to watch. And that’s what this epistle is all about, raising up our alertness from things that can creep in. And so let’s pray together, shall we?

Our Father, we love You. We bless your name and thank You that we can come together today to worship, truly sing with our hearts to You. And then open up your word, the bible, and hear from it, Lord. This is a harder pill to swallow, but an important one. All of us have to learn to take our medicine, and as we do, Lord, we can find healing coming from You. So help us as we learn, as we start, as we introduce this most neglected book in the bible, and may every heart here in this room and those watching online be encouraged, edified, challenged as well in the process. And we pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

Not long ago I had a leader of a church association ask me to be a keynote speaker at their national conference, and I agreed. — And because the conference would be made up mostly of pastors and missionaries, but others as well, I asked him, “What would you like me to address? What would you like me to preach on?” — And he said, “There’s a lot of discouraged ministers in our midst. Remind them of their calling.” And that’s what I intend to do. Do you know your calling? Let’s see where Jude goes with that thought. Jude, again, any chapter you want, the first verse.

Jude 1

1 “Jude, a servant (or slave) of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called (there’s our word) beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

4 For (or because) certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

So Jude presents himself here as incredibly humble, (you’ll see that in a moment) genuinely loving and dreadfully concerned for what is creeping into the church and already was. His name is Jude. The Greek word could be Judas. We wouldn’t like a book titled Judas now, would we? We might be inclined not to read it! It’s not the Judas who betrayed Jesus, but rather the flesh and blood half brother to Jesus. He names himself as a brother to James. By the way, in case you didn’t know that, if you look up Mark 6 and verse 3,

[Mark 6:3, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?…”]

… after Jesus was born Mary and Joseph had several more kids, a couple of girls even, among them Jude and James as mentioned here. But notice what Jude doesn’t do. He doesn’t say ‘My brother James and my brother Jesus. Notice the resemblance?’ He’s not dropping names here, okay? Instead he takes this very humble road. He says, he says “Jude, a slave…” He uses the word “doulos,” it means “bond-slave,” a slave of Jesus. Very, very humble!

Now we’re not told who Jude was writing, okay? But we can ascertain from the guts of the book that he’s… it’s a strongly Jewish audience because there’s a lot of old Testament allusions here. So we know a lot of them were Jewish believers. And I want you to notice how he describes… and it’s beautiful! — and this is what I meant by how he loves them. Look what he says. He says, “They are “called, beloved in God and kept…”  called… beloved… kept.” If you’re a Christian here this morning, I mean, you’re really born again and I never assume all of you are, but if you are, you are every bit of that. You are called, you are beloved and you are kept. And sometimes we just have to remind ourselves of that, don’t we?

So we have some dear friends, my wife and I. We’ve mentored them for the better part of 15 years. They don’t live in our state. They’re younger than we are, but they’re not that young. She got pancreatic cancer… diagnosed with it… about seven or eight months ago, ish, and it’s a death sentence if you know anything about pancreatic cancer. And she’s there now. She’s in the last days of her life, and she is an incredibly godly woman, passionate for Jesus, even now in her excruciating, and I do mean excruciating pain she’s enduring. And so every once in a while, we just remind her that she’s called, she’s beloved, and she is kept by the living God! Sometimes we’ve just gotta remember… remind ourselves of that, don’t we?

Now we’re called. That’s a great word here. It’s a word we’re used to. There are… the Bible identifies several kinds of calls. I’m just gonna boil down to three, okay? The first one is just, really it’s the third one. The third one is just the general call. The general call is the call to obey. And that’s replete in the bible that we’re to be obedient. Jesus said, ‘If you love me, (you’ll what?) you’ll obey Me.’

[John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.“]

…Right? And if you’re a child here, Every parent has this plastered on your bedroom wall.

[Ephesians 6:1-2]

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise (for crying out loud)

3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land…” Great promise on obedience.

When the disciples were being persecuted in the very early days of the church, the authority said, ‘You can’t preach about Jesus anymore.’ and they famously said in Acts 5:29,

Acts 5:29, “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.“

‘…we ought to obey God rather than (what? —rather) than men.’

My personal favorite on obedience to the Christian is Romans chapter 6 and verse 16. It’s a little more obscure. Paul writes,

[Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?“]

‘You need to know that to whom you yield yourselves a servant to obey, (watch this) his servant you are, whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.’ Either way you’re a servant. You’re serving somebody! Why not obey the general call of God? Obey Him.

The second one is vocational. That’s the one when we think of a calling. That’s usually where we go, isn’t it? The vocational… I mean, ‘Has he been called to preach?’ And there’s something to that. By the way, First Timothy 3 says,

1 Timothy 3:1b (KJV)

1 “”If a man desires the office of a bishop, (that’s an inward desire) he desireth (he desires a different word) a good?? work.“

That’s an outward expression or sort of an aspiration. So there is a call to ministry for sure, for sure. But the vocational is the call that identifies. And to say, well, only pastors, and missionaries, and Christian workers, they’re the only ones who are called. There is nothing in the bible to verify that statement. The truth of the matter is, this refers to what God has directed you to do in your life, whether it’s to be a pastor or a missionary, whether it’s to be a farmer or a factory worker, or a computer programmer, or an electrician, or a doctor, or an accountant, or a mother. God’s call, his vocational call to you is the gifting and direction in your life that will most bring glory to him. And some of you are not making a penny for your service for Jesus Christ, but you are piling up riches in heaven! And by the way, the gifts and the calling of God, according to Romans 11:29,

[Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”]

They’re irrevocable. That is, God doesn’t take them away. Isn’t that cool? He gives a gift. I’m taking that back. He doesn’t do that! You have the gift. Now, you may stymie the gift with your life and the way you live, and some of you are probably doing that. But if you walk with God, that gift will explode and it’s never taken away.

The last one is really the first one, call. And that’s the one that Jude is referring to. We’re talking about the irresistible call of God. This is the call that saves. This is the divine call of God. Now there’s a general call where everybody gets to hear the gospel. But if the divine call’s upon you, you’re coming! This is God’s call. You can’t resist! This is the, this is mentioned in other places in scripture like in Romans chapter 8 where the apostle Paul… Just go there. In Romans chapter 8, Paul says in verse 28… you’re familiar with this one.

Romans 8:28-30

28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.“

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (now watch this)

30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

There’s this divine connection here. And in the midst of it is this call, this laser beam… tractor beam call of God whereby He divinely pulls you in. You can’t resist it!

Now Jude resisted it for a while. If you read John chapter seven, he and his brothers tried to send Jesus off to His death! They hated Him! — But the resurrected Jesus changed all of that, and they all, one by one, came to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. It’s an irresistible call.

When I was a kid, we played all around the neighborhood. All our friends were there. We had a big alleyway where we played baseball and all this stuff. And about supper time, I can still hear her voice. My sister would open the door and say, “Pat, Bob, time to come in for supper!” —and we’re playing like, ‘Neah…’ And then a little bit later, a brother would say, “Pat, Bob, you’re supposed to come in for supper!” we’re going, “eah.” — But when my dad opened that back door… we dropped everything! It’s like, we can’t resist this!

That’s the divine call of God on your life. It will be… you can resist it for a time, but if it’s there, God is going to pull you in and you will come in humbly, and you will come in joyfully, and you will be clicking your heels over the salvation that God has provided for you! And this, this is the call that Jude is talking about, and this is what Jude’s purpose, original purpose, in writing was. That’s what he wanted to write about. He wanted to write about, you see that in verse three, our common salvation. And if he had gotten his way, we would not have Jude. Because the Holy Spirit jumped in and said, ‘Nope! Not gonna happen! We’re changing direction.’ —And the result was, from a great letter on salvation to the most severe and neglected letter in all the New Testament… Jude. I’m telling you right now, you’ll never hear Joel Osteen preach this! He just won’t. Jude says… Look at verse 3…

Jude 1:3, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary…”

See that word “necessary”? The Greek word means “to compress” or to the idea there is “to be pressured to go in one way from another.” It’s a little bit like when Paul says to the Corinthians, he says,

[1 Corinthians 9:16, “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”]

… ‘You know, I could do this willingly or I could do this against my will… preaching that is, —But “woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel!” A dispensation has been laid upon me.’ That’s the idea. He’s being pressed. What’s he being pressed to? What is Jude being pressed to?  I’ll tell you what he’s being pressed to… to fight, to fight for the faith! That’s what he says, contend for the faith.

And you might be reading this thinking ‘Geez, I mean, what’s the big deal here? Okay, I mean…’ He’s up. There’s a sense in which the Holy Spirit probably thought, ‘We already have the Book of Romans. We already have the Book of Galatians. We have the Book of Ephesians. There’s a lot of salvation teaching there.’ And so Jude didn’t get his way. Instead, he gets directed by God to give us a very strong warning about… well, look at verse four. He says,

Jude 1:4, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, they’re perverting the grace, perverting the grace of God into sensuality.” ‘They’re even denying Jesus their Master.’

Notice how they’re described. There’s “certain people,” so they don’t know specifically who they are. We’ll come back to that. They’ve “crept in unnoticed.” They’re “ungodly,” and they “pervert the grace of God.” Now, he’s going to unpack this as this letter goes on, but just look at that word “crept in.” That is a fascinating word right there! That phrase “crept in.” The word here for “crept in” was used (listen to this) it was used of slipping into a pool without making a ripple. So just think of that for a moment. Slipping into a pool without making a ripple. It’d be like you’ve seen some of those videos in Africa where some gazelle is up there, you know, just very tentatively getting a drink of water or maybe a lion. You look at the water just perfectly still and… BANG!! — out comes a crocodile, snatches them, pulls them into the water and drowns them! This is the picture that Jude wants us to have in our minds.

Now, my wife is easily startled. And you can startle her in a crowd. So, like, when she’s in another room in the house, I make a noise all the way to the room. ‘I’m coming, dear!’ Not these individuals. That ain’t happening here! These don’t make any noise. They make no ripples, but they cause a ton of chaos. Look at verse 12. Skip down to verse 12. We’re gonna kind of bebop around here a little bit.

Jude 1:12a, “

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear…”

He’s describing them. They’re sitting right next to you. The love feasts were a direct correlation to the Lord’s table, and in bible times they would do that. Much like our community groups, many of you are in, (and those of you who are not in, you should be in) and that’s where many of them get together, and we have a meal together. We enjoy one another’s company, and we talk over spiritual things. That was a regular thing back in bible times. And Jude is saying, ‘The apostates, these creepers, these sneaking in not making a ripple… they’re right next to you.’

So how do you identify them? Well, Jude is gonna uncork some really powerful illustrations from the scripture and from nature itself. We just saw the “hidden reef.” You know what a hidden reef is? It’s underneath the water… wrecks the boat. However, there’s one word to simplify things that sort of in my mind really jumps out in this little epistle. And it’s the word “ungodly.” You saw it there in verse four.

[Jude 1:4, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.]

They’re “ungodly people.” It skipped down to verse 15 where he’s describing them. He says in verse 15, he says,

Jude 1:15, “… to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

They “execute judgment.” He’s going to… God’s going “to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of their deeds of ungodliness that they may have committed in such an ungodly way. And of all the harsh things that ungodly…” You get the point? Ungodly sinners have spoken against him. They’re ungodly six times! [verses 4, 14, 15, 18, 19] That’s how they’re described; “ungodly.” This is what Paul meant when he asked the question in Romans 6.

Roman 6:1-2

1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

2 By no means! How can we who died to sin (removed from sin, saved from sin) still live in it?”

What shall we say? Shall we continue and sin that grace may abound? Ginomai! God forbid! May it never be! Perish the thought! How shall we who’ve been removed from sin, saved from sin, continue in it any longer?

Notice in verse 19… skip all the way down to the very end… verse 19. It says,

Jude 1:19, “It is these who cause divisions…”

Now remember, they’re coming in without a ripple, but their intent is nefarious. They’re like Satan’s spies within the church.

Now I’m not advocating this movie particularly, but in 2011 there was a movie that came out that was just a great spy thriller. Had a weird name. It was called Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and in the movie there was a spy from the Soviet Union and a spy from the United States, and they’re talking with one another, and one says to the other, and I quote,

“We’re not so different you and I. We both spend our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another’s systems.” Quoted from the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

And that’s what they do. These evil plants directed by Satan, himself, worm their way in, and have wormed their way in, and they seek out your weaknesses, our weakness as a whole, your weakness as an individual. So let me just ask you, what is your weakness? What is it? Is it moral? Could I tease you with some forbidden sensual lust? Is it material? You just need a little more money? More stuff? More conspicuous consumption? Is it prestige? Power? Notoriety? Can I tease you with that? Or is it spiritual? That is, could you be duped into believing something that isn’t true? And I’m just going to go ahead and say it. Yes, you could… many of you anyway. Why is that? — Because the writer of Proverbs said,

Proverbs 14:15, “The simple believes (every word) everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.”

Have you ever read that? When he says “the simple,” the Hebrew word simple is a word which means “silly.” It means “seducible.” As some of you are dabbling in areas, you’re reading stuff you shouldn’t be reading, and it’s led you down a rat hole of heresy and unbelief. And you’re actually being simple-minded because this is what will make you whole. Jesus talked about a parable. Do you remember that? He talked about a parable that’s… He talked about… It was the parable of the weeds.

[Matthew 13:25, “… but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.“]

He said, the “enemy came in…” Do you remember what the next word are? “while they were (what?) “sleeping and sowed the weeds” in. The apostle Paul said in Acts 20,

[Acts 20:29-30

29 “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”]

After I’m gone, grievous wolves are going to enter in “not sparing the flock.” He’s not saying they’re going to come in like, “Rrrrr!”. No, they’re coming in without making a ripple amongst the sheep. And so, it’s been prophesied. Jesus said it, Paul said it, and Jude is saying, in essence, ‘Prophecy fulfilled! They’re in!’ These are spiritual spies, they’re moles. You can call them what you will, but they come in unannounced. They come in unwelcome. They come in unnoticed. And if they’re not addressed, they will be the church’s undoing!

So what do we do? What are we supposed to do? Well, the answer is what Jude calls us to do. Jude calls us to fight for the faith! And he says it with very strong verbiage here. Again, verse three;

[Jude 1:3, ” Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to (earnestly) contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”]

I’m appealing to you. I’m compressed. I’m driven to appeal to you, to fight! — or to contend for the faith. The word “contend” is where we get our English word “agonize.” And most of our English translations supply the word earnestly contend. And if you have a translation like that, good for you. The ESV should put that word in there, because he’s saying, the Greek is saying you should be giving your entire might to this!

The word contend conveys the idea of, (wait for it) wrestling! (Greatest sport of all time!) And if you know anything about wrestling, that’s what this word means. And if you know anything about wrestling, sometimes it comes down to knowledge. The smartest guy on the mat is a well-equipped man… But not entirely. Not if he’s not conditioned. Conditioning involves knowledge and exercise. And it often comes down to conditioning if the guy’s gonna win.

Just the other day… we’re in the NCAA college championships. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to hear this. The truth is, there was a wrestler, a heavyweight wrestler, 285 pounds of bulk. I mean 285 pounds of sheer muscle! He is so powerful and he is so capable and he is so dominating that a couple of years ago, he won the gold medal for the United States of America in freestyle wrestling! He comes back after a stint doing this and that. In his last year of college for Minnesota… He is such a stud! It’s a foregone conclusion he’s gonna win! In fact, he was even named after the greatest wrestler of all time, Dan Gabel, his first name is Gabel. And he wrestles right away. It looks like he’s just gonna tear into this guy. Takes him down. By the third period, he’s gassed! — And that guy hasn’t gone away. He’s conditioned. And at the very end, with seconds left in the match, the other guy took him down and beat him! It was a stunning upset! Why? — Because he didn’t have enough knowledge? No. He didn’t have enough conditioning! He wasn’t exercised enough. And that’s where some of us can be.

Listen, you don’t come to church just for a data dump. You don’t come here just to get a bunch of theology stuffed into your head. If that’s the case, love puffs up. Makes you proud. I’m sorry, knowledge puffs up, makes you proud. Love builds up, right?

So recently my Jeep got a leak, an oil leak. It was a bad one, so I called Steve Dixon. (talk about easy advertisement!) He’s the local mechanic in our church… fixes half of your car’s. I told him what happened. He said to me, he said, ‘Pastor, you’re gonna have to tear apart that engine, use all your knowledge about car engines. Find the leak and repair it.’ Well, if you know me, that is not what he said to me, because if he had said that to me, I would have made the matter way worse! — Because I didn’t have the knowledge.

Now, the Apostle Paul said at the end of his life,

[2 Timothy 4:6]

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Right? “Good fight.” By calling it a “good” fight, he’s implying there’s such thing as a bad fight. So listen. Even though we’re supposed to contend, we don’t have to be contentious. You can contend without being contentious. And you’re not going to contend for the faith, rather, much less win, unless you are equipped, and you are exercising that equipment.

I’ll never forget… it’s like a week after I became a Christian. I mean, the lights had come on. I was so excited! I was so free! I was so happy! I called my brother who lead me to Christ. I said, “I’ve gotta go over to Mom and Dad’s! I’ve gotta tell them how we’ve been deceived!” He said, “No, you’re not.” I said, “I’m not?” He said, “No, you’re not. You’re like a gunslinger going out to a fight. You got no bullets in your gun.“

And that’s the way some of you are. You wanna go after it, you wanna do this, you wanna do that for Jesus, and you got no bullets in your gun! This is where the bullets come from right here: the truth of God. Look at Jude 10. This is crazy stuff here! Look at Jude 10. Look at it. He said,

Jude 1:10, “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.”

They are working off their own wits. They’re the… these individuals are coming at you! They may have knowledge, but it’s not biblical knowledge. And unfortunately, the church… now, Jude is telling us they’re getting in and they’re leading people astray. Why would they lead anybody astray? — Because you that are being led astray are not equipped! And you need to be equipped.

Now, what are we fighting for, anyway? Well, look at it, Jude 3.

Jude 1:3, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.“

“The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” The faith has been delivered. The faith is not fashioned. It’s delivered, and God has delivered it to the church.

While he’s watching over it, He’s also given us responsibility to take care of it as well. The faith referred to here is the entire body of truth. Listen to this. The faith referred to here is the entire… (are you listening to this?) — The faith that he refers to is the entire body of truth. We believe in (wait for it) and lived out. Again, it’s not enough to have your head stuffed full of knowledge. If you’re not doing anything with it! Jude is listening, I’m sorry, Jude is referring, primarily not to doctrine, but to lifestyle in these apostates that he’s gonna get to. The description of these apostates in this letter has to do more with the way they were living with than what they were believing. We’ve all met people who believe right things but live wrong things, right? So fight for the faith with the truth lived out.

Secondly, protect the faith. Remember, this is once and for all delivered to us, and the implication is for safe keeping. The faith… remember, we said a week ago as we concluded the Revelation series, we, I quoted to you from Jeremiah where God says to Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 1:12, “Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

“I am watching over my word to perform it.” I love that! This is God saying, “I’m watching over My word to perform it” to make sure it happens. Now, that’s really cool, but James is telling us He’s also delivered it to the saints, to the Church, to protect it. God protects it, and He will ultimately protect it, but He’s given us responsibility to do the same.

David Helm writes,

“For Jude, the faith is not merely a list of propositions. When defined fully, it includes the life changing activity of God.” David Helm

That’s when truth is on fire in your life! This is what one of the Puritans says;

“It’s what happens when truth is in you and it’s being lived out.” He called it, “the life of God in the soul of man. When God’s life is in your soul, it changes you.” one of the Puritans

Warren Wiersbe wrote,

“Every soldier of the cross needs to go through “basic training” in a local church so that he knows how to use the weapons of spiritual warfare.”  Warren Wiersbe

That’s why… we’re not ready to unleash it now, but… what we’re doing privately is developing an institute that will equip you, the saints, to fight and protect the truth. We’re excited! We’re not ready to roll it out, but we will be. And what are we doing here? Look at it again. It’s “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.“[Jude 1:3] We are the protectors.

How many of you have been following the saga of Jackie and Shadow? Huh? Okay, we’re talking about the bald eagles in California. They had three eaglets. One of them died, but just three weeks… a couple weeks ago, a horrific snowstorm went through, and Jackie sat on those two surviving chicks. This just happened a couple weeks ago. And when the snow started to subside you can see those… they’re like they didn’t even… I know what’s going on… because they were protected. And that’s precious!

But how much more the protection of the truth of God? — Because the storms are not just coming. They’re on! It’s storming out there! There are churches out there that are giving lip service to Jesus Christ, and they’re doing anything but projecting the truth lived out.

Finally, discern faith’s enemies. Discernment. When I was a new Christian, I visited my brother, Mike’s, church. He was pastoring this church and I was interacting with this… I met this guy, really nice guy. Talked to him for just a little bit. Walked back to my brother and said, “Man, he’s a really nice guy! My brother said, “Yeah, he’s a really nice guy. He’d probably greet the devil if the devil walked in here.” I went, “Whoa!” What was my brother saying? He was saying, ‘That man has no discernment.‘ And some of you don’t either! Here’s how you can tell when you’re holding hands with people who are ungodly. When they become… don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of ungodly friends, but I have a purpose involved here, right? Some of you just have ungodly friends. And you affirm ungodly people. You know what? When you do that, you show zero discernment. When you do that.

So just the other day, let me… Paul Seymour, our elder over our music and counseling ministry, he was… He told the elders that this happened a couple days in a row. He’s out for a walk and hears this loud BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! And he thought, what is that? He looked up and there was a woodpecker pecking on a transformer! He went there the next day. Same woodpecker hammering on the same transformer. Paul texted us and said, “If he gets his way, it’s not going to go well for him!”

Some of you are doing the same thing! You’re pecking away at stuff, and if you get your way, it’s not going to go well for you… because you lack discernment. You get discernment by knowledge and obedience together. That gives you discernment, and that will allow you to discern evil when it attempts to creep into your life or the church’s life.

The other day, my wife and I were doing a FaceTime with one of our missionaries. Now this missionary is in a country where 1% of the population are true Christians. One… And maybe less than 1%. And he said, he said to me, “Pastor, Marilyn…” I mean, they’re telling us how their gospel opportunities are trying to take and this and that, and now he goes, “Think about it! These people don’t love the gospel… but they love gospel music!” I said, “Come again?” “Yeah! They love Christian music! They’re listening to the same music, you play at church, and listen to them on the radio. They love it! In fact, in fact, I just got a text from one of my friends the other day that said, “Oh, happy day. Jesus has watched my sins away.”” That’s a song we used to sing at Easter time! And Jesus has not washed his sins away! Beware the pretenders. They’re coming. And they might be here… right now!

Some of you are pretending. You know the truth, but you haven’t applied it. You know the truth of the gospel, but it’s never come from your heart… not really. You’ve got it in your head but it’s not in your heart, because if it was, it would change your soul. And if it changed your soul, it would change you. And maybe today is a day you take off the fake clothing and you put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you’ll do that, you can begin the battle for the faith, the protection of the faith, and the discernment of when evil tries to creep into the house of God. Will you do that? Let’s pray.

Our Father, we ask in Jesus’ name that You would help us as we work through these next few weeks, this tough epistle, but a necessary one You saw fit by your Holy Spirit to give us so that we would fight for the faith we believe in. Help us individually to do that. Those of us who know You, may we be more committed to your word, both to know it for sure and to obey it, so that we might be able to fight, protect, and discern when evil is trying to creep its way in. I pray for those in this room, those watching online who have never really repented of their sin, they’re still pretenders, but help them to hear that You love them. Help them to know in their heart of hearts that You want to change them. And if that’s you dear friend, right now, from your heart, and very humbly, tell God you’re sorry for your sins that are separating you from Him. Tell God you believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died for you and rose again. Ask Him to come into your life for real, and from your heart to forgive you of your sins and be your Savior… And no more pretending. Help us to be fighters of the good fight you’ve laid before us. We pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.